Established 1979 Company Number: 11693988 VAT Registration Number: 284 0522 13 +44 (0)1606 836036 +44 (0)7871 701585 [email protected]

G. Treharne & Son of South Wales

 

 

 

G. TREHARNE & SON

of South Wales

by Dixey

The Treharne father and son Gareth and Stuart race from a back garden loft in the Blaenau Gwent valley village of Nantyglo which is high in the Heads of the Valleys area; the lofts are at an altitude of around 1250 feet.

Gareth and son Stuart Treharne at their lovely set up

The younger partner first took an interest in our feathered friends when he was around 12 years old when he noticed some racers in the loft of a stable of a local horse breeder. He persuaded his parents to let him have a loft, which was built on the site of the current lofts in his dad’s back garden but as you can imagine this was very different to the current lofts being 8 x 6 feet with a small trap on the front. This was in 1975 and the first birds came from many local flyers who were all kind enough to give freely to the new starter, which is typical of people in the area. Of all the local flyers that helped the young novice one stood out gifting many very well bred birds in the first couple of years and as Stuart got older he took him to shows where he was judging, and to different lofts of local champion flyers as well as passing on his experience. This was local fancier Steve Robinson from Blaina, who at his best was a top flyer. It was with great sadness that Steve passed on in 2013, and Stuart is very appreciative of all the help that he was given by Steve. May he rest in peace. The partners are now equally as passionate about their pigeons with the senior partner doing far more of the day to day chores. The system employed consists of very little basket work which cuts down the work compared to their previous approach which entailed a fair amount of basket work.

The current lofts have been recently extended and now consist of a double deck 22 ft loft with the main racing team on the top floor with the main stock birds underneath, a 21 foot young bird loft with 3 partings, and a recently built L-shaped loft with two additional racing partings behind which are three 6 foot breeding compartments (this replaced a previous breeding loft).

The new racing loft has been added with the purpose of developing a team to race in the BICC races with the existing racing loft competing in the Welsh South Road Federation and national programme. All old birds are raced on the roundabout system, which is fairly conventional. Each pair raise one young bird which is normally floated from the stock pairs with a few racers bred from if not enough eggs are available at the right time from the stock birds. All the hens are parted over from the cocks at around the same time with the cocks finishing off the rearing of the young for the last few days.

The birds are all treated at the same time i.e. racing and stock. They are injected for paramyxovirus in November which is followed by a paratyphoid treatment a week later for a ten day period. They are treated for worms and cocci a month prior to pairing with a canker treatment when they are sitting eggs.  Attempts are made to keep the use of antibiotics to a minimum apart from the paratyphoid treatment.

The old birds are given only 4 or 5 training flights before their first race dependant on the weather and if the weather is not great may only get 3. The birds are exercised morning and night from between 45 minutes to an hour but are never exercised the day after a race. When racing starts the cocks are given their bowls but are never shown their hens before the race. They are left with their hens for an hour or two on their return. The hens are sometimes taken straight out of their parting to the race and on occasions they are let into the boxes and pans before going to race.

The new next boxes

The young birds are raced on the darkness system, with a smaller number raised on natural and these will be predominantly distance birds and given just one or two short comeback races. The darkness young birds perform just as well as old birds as natural youngsters, and the partners have not noticed any detrimental effect on old bird racing since they started racing their young birds on the darkness system around four years ago.

The partners like to enter a few of their young birds in breeder buyer races and have had some success over the past few years. It is with interest that they have noticed that a greater proportion of their best young bird racers are in fact second round young birds and they are of the opinion that with darkness and the time of the year we start racing young birds that there is no real need to start breeding early in the year. This year the stock birds were paired at the beginning of February.

The birds are fed predominantly on Versele Laga and natural mixes with barley added at the appropriate times through the year with peas being added for breeding and weaning of the young birds. Red Band conditioner is still used for trapping and as a treat. Fresh grit is provided throughout the year with a multivitamin or garlic added to the water occasionally. Pego products have been used for quite some time.

The partners like to compete in all races if possible but will not send if they do not believe it is right for the birds. Each year one or two of the yearlings are not sent over the channel but are kept to mature. This has proved effective in the past and the present as they have topped the amalgamation from both Sartilly and Falaise in the past with two year olds that had only raced inland as yearlings and in 2013 a two year old cock was 5th national Saintes and  a week later 5th national Bordeaux as well as a top BICC position being 28th open Tours, but had not been over the channel as a yearling. They are of the opinion that they do not necessarily need experience at a young age to be good channel birds later in life. The main danger of course is that while you give them an opportunity to mature they are taken by a hawk which regularly occurs and why they only follow this course with a small number of birds.

Over the past couple of years it has also been possible to compete against the NFC from Saintes, as although they are not members they transport the Welsh national birds and have a joint liberation which has helped them to understand if the birds are good enough. Both in 2012 and 2013 good performances against the combined liberation were attained with one bird just outside the  top ten in 2012 and two birds in the top ten in 2013. Although not an official race, it is still a great measure of performance.

A great grandson of Chicago, sire of three 2nd open National and five section winners for Treharne & Son.

 

They are members of the Cwmtillery Flying Club where competition can be best described as fierce but there is great respect among all the members and a good culture and environment within which to enjoy racing. It is really the club competition which has driven their performance over recent years. Competing against such great flyers as Preece Brothers & Son, J&P Webber, Williams Brothers, Mark Sparey etc really keeps you on your toes and it must be said that all members are very competitive and put up good performances every year.

Their present day team consists of mainly Eijerkamp & Son pigeons however one or two others have been added to test the Eijerkamp directly from Pieter Veenstra, Marcel Sangers, Wall Lunt & Green and Crehan & Connor as well as T. Marshall & Sons. The majority of the stock are predominantly middle distance birds and will perform well up to 500 miles but their best distances are up to 400 miles in reality. With a desire to compete in the longer events new stock has been sourced over the last couple of years, one or two from Eijerkamp and others direct from lofts such as Verstraete, Roger Debusschere, First Prize Pigeons, Rutz & Son, Batenberg van de Merwe, Jos Thone, Wijnands & Son, Ian Stafford, and T Marshall & Sons, as well as one or two Brockamps, the aim being to get as many from direct long distance champions or breeders of long distance champions. In the next couple of years it is hoped to compete at the 500 to 600 mile distance races.

The team has competed well over the past few years. 2011 was a great year winning all main averages in the Welsh South Road Federation as well as overall open and section highest points winners, plus taking the first sixteen in the national from Carentan. In 2012 the old birds went well culminating in 1st and 2nd national Saintes. The young birds contracted an aggressive eye infection which really had a debilitating effect on them although they eventually remedied it and they performed well from Carentan winning Six Bells breeder buyer, but much of the young bird season was lost due to the infection. In the federation highest centre section points was won. Similarly in 2013 the old birds went well with a number of highs throughout the season but once again the young birds were not in full health though they did well in the Carentan national winning 3rd open as their best position, winning highest points centre section in the fed once again and 3rd overall highest points winner and the two longest race average in the federation.

Each year the partnership try to identify an improvement or two which will hopefully make an incremental improvement in the team’s performance going forward. This year they have installed Hermes boxes to the main racing loft, and an aviary for the racing hens to spend the day in. Although there is something to be said for the old adage if it’s not broke don’t fix it, it is also true that if you stand still you go backwards so something new is added every year including new stock to try.

The aim for 2014 is to focus on keeping the birds both old and young in the best possible health and to try and enjoy the racing. Let’s hope for good weather and best of luck to everyone.

Tylorstown Breeder Buyer

I have been reminded that The Tylorstown & Dist have a breeder buyer auction on 23rd Feb and this will be for their Dover Derby. You can get further details on the Rhondda Valley Pigeon Fed web site. All news with views and scandal of course to me at 73 Brynhyfryd Terrace. Ferndale. Mid Glam. CF43.4HT. Tel 01443.730492. e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Cheerio and Diolch. 

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Elimar - February 2014